YYA> If ALL the Gedolim
a true scotsman argument. The closer it is to our times, the harder it is to judge. So, I was looking as far as we can when the “modern” issues were already discussed. This is what often discuss here – first half of 20th century. I find the argument that R Kook, R Soloveichik, Lubavitcher Rebbe are as much talmidei chachomim as others of that generation. There is also enough evidence that at least some of more universally recognized talmidei chachomim, like R Feinstein, recognized the above. We had discussions here. I think we agree on this.
If they all were to sit in a Sanhedrin, they might be bound by rules of majority. Whatever the sins of our generations are, we do not have such a body. Thus, any of these T’Ch are a legitimate opinion. It is, of course, very tempting to fake “daas Torah” and simply follow a gadol that corresponds to your liking or who supports whatever you are doing. It is a difficult question for everyone. Some people are more self-aware than others in this …
For me, personally, I always suspected that I have a “modernishe” bias. For that reason, I was trying to learn only classical sources, not seriously learning any modernishe seforim, although I heard some of the shitos, of course. I started reading R Soloveitchik in depth relatively recently and found that many conclusions I came to are similar or parallel to his. This is not a proof that I am not biased, just a proof that I worked on my bias.